June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Anton Klima is a self-described
electric-car fanatic. The Los Angeles television cameraman is
already on his second electric vehicle, a battery-powered BMW
Mini E.

To make sure he’s carbon-free, he charges the car from
solar panels on the roof of his Hollywood Hills home. When he’s
out and about, Klima has to make do with a patchy network of
public chargers left over from California’s original electric-car campaign a decade ago. While he can now track down chargers
with an iPhone app, the shape of the plugs has changed, so Klima
has to carry three adapters to be sure he can power up. “After
a while you get used to” the hassles, Klima says.

U.S. policymakers can’t count on such dedication as they
map out the electric-car future, Bloomberg Businessweek reported
in its June 7 issue. President Barack Obama aims to get 1
million electric cars and plug-in hybrids on U.S. roads by 2015
to ease reliance on imported oil and cut carbon emissions. The
first two mass-market electrics, Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf and
General Motor Co.’s Chevy Volt, are set to hit the streets this
fall.

The challenge will be finding places to charge all those
vehicles. To eliminate “range anxiety” -- electric-vehicle-speak for the fear of being stranded with drained batteries --
drivers will need to know they can plug in at shopping centers,
restaurants or parking meters.

“Two chargers are needed for each car, one where you live
and one where you work,” says Richard Lowenthal, chief
executive officer of Coulomb Technologies Inc., a Campbell,
California-based maker of electric-car charging stations.
Building that infrastructure “may be a $12 billion industry,”
he estimates.

Tax Credits Sought

Recognizing the need for charging stations, a group of
Democratic and Republican House and Senate members proposed on
May 27 legislation to expand tax credits for the installation of
charging equipment as well as electric vehicle purchases. The
measure would direct the Energy Department to award $800 million
in grants to support charging facilities for 700,000 electric
vehicles within six years.

Coulomb is among at least a half-dozen companies aiming to
win some of that cash and build the fuel stations of the 21st
century. Lowenthal plans to install 4,600 chargers in nine U.S.
metropolitan areas by the end of 2011. The devices cost $2,000
to $5,000 each. The company also aims to offer smartphone apps
and navigation software that will guide drivers to the nearest
available charger.

Ecotality, AeroVironment

Ecotality Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona, has won a $100
million federal grant and is working with Nissan to install more
than 11,000 chargers in five U.S. states within three years.
Nissan is also working with AeroVironment Inc. of Monrovia,
California, to put charging equipment in homes, and it hopes to
build a network of public chargers as well.

Closely held Better Place, based in Palo Alto, California,
is taking a different approach: In addition to charging cars,
the company plans to open stations where drained batteries can
be swapped for charged ones. The startup expects to introduce
its service next year in Israel and Denmark. Hawaii and the San
Francisco Bay Area may be its first U.S. markets.

SemaConnect, based in Annapolis, Maryland, has developed a
$2,500 wall-mounted charger for public use. The company has sold
the devices to three locations in the Washington area. At one, a
hotel in Annapolis, Russell Rankin charges a fleet of 10
electric cars that he uses to shuttle guests to local
attractions. Rankin says he plans to order more chargers as his
company grows.

Utility Upgrades

Utilities are preparing for the shift as well. While they
say they should be able to handle the extra load, upgrades are
needed. These include transformers to keep neighborhood circuits
from overloading if multiple cars are plugged in at once, smart
meters to monitor how vehicles charge and rewiring older homes
to handle 220-volt charging devices, says Pedro Pizarro, an
executive vice-president at Southern California Edison, the
Edison International unit that is California’s largest utility.
“We need to know when people are charging, what vehicles
they’re charging,” he says.

Mark Duvall, director of electric transportation for the
Electric Power Research Institute, an industry group, believes
it may be hard for the U.S. to reach Obama’s target. He predicts
sales are unlikely to top 15,000 electric cars annually before
2013.

“If you build some solid gold-plated infrastructure before
you understand what the public wants or needs, you’re going to
squander a lot of resources,” he says.